Our key verse for today, verse 42, is written to the Jewish people and reveals how the Lord will be known among the Jewish people in the last days. However, this verse is only part of the message from the Lord to the Jewish people in the last days.

Starting in verse 33 the Lord tells the Jews of a coming judgment upon them and as we read through to verse 44 we see that the Lord will judge and then become the Lord and Savior of the Jewish people.

Let me draw your attention to some key points in our devotional reading for today. Verse 33 tells us of the Lord God as the "mighty God of the Jewish people who will rule over His chosen people". The Lord tells them that in a day future from when Ezekiel received this message to pass along to the Jews, "in that day future He will gather the Jews from all of the countries where they had been scattered".

This statement focuses the prophecy's fulfillment on a time after the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem in 70AD when the Jews were scattered to the four corners of the earth. Verses 35 and 36 speak of the time when the "Jews come back into the land of their forefathers". It talks also of how the Lord will "plead with them face to face" so they will turn to Him as their Messiah, Lord and Savior.

What I have just mentioned and what you have just read is a scenario that seems to be unfolding even as I sit writing this devotional. For the last 100 years plus, there have been Jews from over 100 nations of the world who have returned to the land of their forefathers, Israel.

They are now in the land, "the wilderness", and with all that has been happening to the Jewish people of modern-day Israel, it seems that the Lord is indeed pleading with them "face to face".

The Lord will bring the Jews to a place where they will turn to Him and no longer "pollute His holy name" but become His people. This point of turning to the Lord and the building of His Temple, verse 40, on His "holy mountain", the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is still in the future but will happen based upon the prophecies that He has already fulfilled from this passage.

One final thing to notice, as this happens and continues to happen until all the prophecies of this passage are fulfilled, not only will the Jews know that He is the Lord, but all of mankind will recognize that , as well, if they will only pay attention to what is happening in our world today, especially in the Middle East.

We must share with others the story of Israel and God's plan for them as revealed in prophecy, prophecy that is being fulfilled, even today. That story will lift up the Lord and draw men unto Him.

PRAYER THOT: Dear Lord, keep me busy sharing with others Your work among Your people today and how it fits into the end of times scenario found in the Bible.